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THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 



* ^iege * of * practise # 



A POETICAL DRAMA 
IN FIVE ACTS 



BY 



WILLIAM A. LEAHY 




BOSTON 

D. LOTHROP COMPANY 

Washington Street, opposite Bromfield 

i88q 



55 



Copyright, 1889, 
By WILLIAM A. LEAHY, 



Characters. 

Lucius, a young Syracusan captain. 

Antenor, High-Priest and Senator of Syracuse ; Adelia's 
father. 

Barca, Carthaginian general. 
Salander, his attendant. 
Gvlippus, Spartan general. 



Adelia, beloved of Lucius. 

Glauka, in love with Lucius, a disguised Ionian maiden, 
Adelia's companion. 



Soldiers, Sailors, Priestesses, etc. 



The story is laid in Syracuse during the Athenian siege, 
b.c. 414-413- 



THE 

SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 



%tt fitgt. 

Scene I. 

A secluded garden. Glauka discovered by a fountain, 

singing. 

AC A XT I IF.. 

Acanthc carolled 
Beside the shore, 
Where the sea-maids four, 

All green-apparelled, 
Looking up through the waters shoal, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

From their grottoes shady 
Beheld her pass, 
With the heart of a lass, 
The grace of a lady, 
And locks like an aureole ; 
And locks like an aureole. 

Enter Lucius in full armor : lie listens. 

" Take thy Acanthe," — 
Sweetly she sang 
That the ocean rang, — 
" O sister Xanthe, 
Under the sparkling waves. 
For thou art become 
A sea-maid, they say ; 
Then take me away 
To thy deep, new home 
In the beautiful coral caves ; 
In the beautiful coral caves." 

Where the water flows 
By the old sea-bank, 
They arose and sank, 

And sank and arose, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Aye making a music wild ; 

While, strewing sea-charms, 
Xanthe, the queen, 
Coming unseen, 
Stretched forth her arms, 
And sank with the lovely child ; 
All sank with the lovely child. 

Lucius {coming forward). A sweet lay, Glauka. 

Glauka (starts). Master! 

Lucius. Do not blush 

Thus to be overheard. 

Glauka. Thy plume is shorn, 

Lord Lucius, and, O Gods ! this brazen plate 
Is dinted like a target. Sure it has been 
The mark for many arrows. 

Lucius. Sweet concern 

And pretty wonder of thy gentle eyes ! 
We had a midnight skirmish. Happy maid, 
Thou, screened amid thy grove of whispering lemons, 
Know'st little of the fleet that blocks our harbor ; 
Xor hast thou climbed Epipolae's slope to view 
Their cruel walls that like a serpent's folds 



4 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Coil round us on the land. Just where they meet 

One round redoubt is planted. Precious blood 

Anoints the meadows there : for thro' that pass 

Our city's breath doth flow ; that crevice closed, 

What hope for all-encircled Syracuse ! 

At dead of night from either wall there stole 

A hundred archers and a hundred spearsmen, 

The flower of the foe, all stern-resolved 

To seize our coign of vantage. But Menon, 

Our sentinel, with vigilant suspicion 

Spied them afar, and touched each resting guard. 

We rose, and shaking off the drowse of sleep, 

As leaps the leopard from his jungle lair, 

Singing A lata ! we charged them. Brief the combat ! 

Then Lamachus, the rampart of their camp, 

Went down to death, and many brave Athenians 

Descended with him, or since sank in flight 

Among the lowland marshes. 

Glauka. Shall I call 

My lady ? Nay, for she hath heard thy voice 
Across the garden, and returns this way. 

Enter Adelia. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 5 

Lucius. Adelia ! {They embrace) 

Adelia. This is earlier than thy wont. 

Lucius. Swift sped I, love, and blithely to my 
tryst ; 
While Fancy, like an eager comrade, still 
Outran me, questioning, "What doth she now?" 
And " Will she meet me here before the gate ? 
Or on the path ? or in her bower ? Perhaps 
She will be singing, — sighing, — at her tasks, — 
Or revery-bound, watching the winged flocks 
That, now 'tis early spring, embarking high 
Upon their airy element, desert 
Our winter for the North." 

Adelia. Behold them now. 

O would they were the winged ships of Athens, 
Tired of their sojourn here, and eastward bound 
Back to their own Piraeus. But no word 
Of war to us, love, by my father's wish. 
If thou'st an idle hour, fling down thy spear 
And doff thy heavy helm, while 'mid sweet converse, 
Reclining on the lawn (Remain, my dear!) 
We two will give thine arms a hue of peace, 
Garlanding them with flowers. 



6 THE SIE GE OF S TEA C US E. 

Lucius throivs down his spear and removes his helmet. 
They recline on the meadow. Glauka moves to and 
fro, fetching flowers for the ga? r lands. 

Adelia. Few visitors 

Disturb us, save Anterior and thyself, 
And, yes, the little warbling birds that come 
To tipple in our fountains. So our life 
Is pensive and severe, — unless, perchance, 
As even now I heard her, Glauka carols. 
Then all the garden's silent and each thing 
That's blessed with ears stands trembling for delight, 
Till, startled by the perfect hush, the maid 
Remembers she is singing, and is still. 

Glauka. O lady, what are praises from thy lips ! 

Lucius. Thou art a sister of the nightingale, 
Fair Glauka, sweeter far than she, and shy 
As, ah ! the sweetest songsters ever are. 
And is it love that makes thee carol, too ? 
Why not, in Love's own bower ! The very air 
Exhaleth a voluptuous harmony. 
Think not I mean such harmony alone 
As trembles in the hearing when deft hands 



THE SIEGE OF SVRACCSE. J 

Pluck music from the lyre : but such as makes 
Leaf sister unto flower, and flower akin 
To meadow, tint to neighbor tint, and man 
Unto the zone he dwells in. 'Neath the trees 
The lacing shine and shadow, — on the lawns 
The light of flowers, — and from the gentle knoll, 
Rough, rocky stairs descending, the cascade, 
With silvery missions to the placid lake 
And to the foamy fountain, — and the sky, 
O'erhung with languid spreads of yellow cloud, 
All laving with soft light — it is, in truth, 
Love's garden. 

Adelia. Yet Antenor heeds it little. 

Lucius. Thy father's spirit is for war and counsel, 
Stern, lonely, like an Alp. 

Adelia. But wherefore stern? 

Is he not ever gentle ? 

Lucius. Thee he loves, 

But he is stern to evil. I remember 
A scholar of the Sophists came one day 
To teach the people ; a mere youth, but learned, 
And learnedly he discoursed of destiny 
And learnedly scoffed the Gods. Antenor paused, 



8 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

And questioned him : " What wares hast thou for 

sale ? " 
"True wisdom, sire." — Whence purchased? whence 

obtained ? " 
" Where all men purchase wisdom, in the schools 
Of Athens." Hast thou seen men suffer ? " " Nay." 
" And hast thou known a beautiful woman ? " " Nay." 
" And hast thou faced death ? " " Nay." 

Antenor passed. 
His silence was like scorn. 

Glauka. My flowers, lady, 

Plead to me for the liquor that they love, 
And every basin trickles at the brim. 

Lucius. Flowers ! Wrought drops of purest love- 
liness, 
So full of silent utterance, like eyes : 
Some tender, proud, shy, sad, gay, passionate. 
O, beauty is the blossom and the crown 
Of everything. One flower on a vine 
Becomes the centre of the world to me. 

Glauka. If yonder nameless bell is opening, 
Then it is close on the meridian hour. 
At night, or when the rains refresh the hues 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 9 

And perfumes of the garden, he pouts up 
His purple lips. 

Lucius. Thanks for the garland, Glauka. 

Glauka sprinkles tlie flowers in the vases and beds 
near by. 

Adelia. So now thy casque is wreathed with a 
crown 
Fair as thine own Olympian laurel prize. 
How swiftly flow the years since thou returnedst, 
A victor, from the games ! 

Lucius. Yet still thy days 
Are those of the young rose when every morn 
Unfolds new petals in her riping prime. 
Yet how time flows ! It seems a mighty age, 
All-thronged with annals of momentous deeds, 
Since when my bark, — now fierce-arrayed for war, — 
Flew o'er the foamy straits, far out to sea, 
Towards Ithaca and the mantled Elian shores. 
The picture rises in my memory 
When, through Alpheuis's banks in shallops rowing, 
We came upon the middle of the games. 
Fleet runners, like a herd of startled deer, 



10 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Coursed down the track, and supple wrestlers strained, 
And chariots clattered in the elliptic ring. 
While, high-embanked on stony tiers around, 
Reclined the glory and the pride of Greece, 
Numberless as the trees that overlay 
The flanks of some steep mountain. 

Pedestalled 
In universal gaze, the reverend bards, 
Lyre-laden, sat and mused. My rivals these, 
Who stared at me, the stranger and the boy. 
And when my hour was come, — my lyre well clasped, 
My fingers in the chords, — I rose, abashed. 
The plain of Elis vanished like a dream. 
I seemed to see my home ; I seemed to hear 
Faint herd-bells of the hills, as when, a boy, 
I climbed the mighty Aetna, from the base 
Up ladder-vines to some vale-towering peak 
That overlooked the sea. Far southward lay 
The undulous fields of Sicily in sight, 
Flushed with a flowery haze, red as the stream 
Ambrosial of thy rose-enamelled cheek, — 
Thus flowed my thoughts to thee. Just then the voice 
Of Aeschylus, the minstrel blind, the judge, 






THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. II 

Broke on my visions with the subject — 

" Love ! 
Begin ! " he said. 

I sang the tale eterne 
Of two fair souls in youth's gold summer of life, 
Who, sauntering through the woodlands arm in arm, 
Sink to a seat beneath some shady arbor 
Delightful, where the blushing girl first hears 
The passionate youth's avowal. Sweet the words 
I chose, and pure, and simple, — while my lyre 
Breathed murmurous accord, now swelling loud 
As with the tender boy's entreaty, now 
Expiring softly, like the maiden's sigh. 
Singing, my soul waxed wilder. I had risen 
To the last outburst of triumphant joy, — 
When, lo ! my lyre-strings parted. 

Shattered, dumb, 
They lay beneath my fingers. But I cried 
Undaunted, " Give me a larger lyre, one meet 
To bear the burden of strong: ecstasv ! 
Give me the voice of youths who chant together 
With mutual joy, and hearts all tuned in one, 
In praise of love — for what is youth but love ? 



12 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Give me the tones of that supernal hymn 

The blest souls, clustered in Elysian fields, 

And fair Pierian groups, Olympian choirs, 

Strewn o'er the luminous floor of heaven, pour forth, 

Mingled with sweetness of all things that sing, 

Of groves, of streams, of winds, of gliding spheres, 

Audible to the Gods, or shapes whose veins 

Hold ichor, or the rapt, transported bard, 

Whose soul, of elemental fires compound, 

Hears harmonies divine. Or, higher still, 

Give me the voice of Zeus when by the side 

Of Here he reclines, and through the halls 

Of heaven his spoken thunder rings aloud, 

Melodious with love. Such instrument 

The mighty passion needs. A man-made lyre 

Breaks with its powerful sweetness." 

The echoes died away, and then I knew 

That Sicily had won the crown. 

Adelia. Wear this, 

A fairer garland, by as much as love 
In life excelleth love in poesy. 
But, Glauka, how thou tremblest ! and bright tears 
Stand on thy lashes. 



THE SIEGE OE SYRACUSE. I 3 

Glauka. Something in the tale 

Touched me, my lady. 

Lucius. Girl, what shade is that 

Dwells ever on thy forehead ? Is it a pining 
For the Kuboean home ? Or memory 
Of one that once smiled on thee in the grove? 

Adelia. She keeps her story secret from us 
still, 
But I am sure 'tis sad. Perhaps red War 
Knocked at her city's gate, and, rudely welcomed, 
Tore those she loved away. — 

Lucius (starting up). Banish the fear ! 

Hope breaks on leaguered Syracuse. The foe 
Grow weary, bruising their huge strength in vain 
Against our rocky forts. At Camerina 
The Spartan lord, Gylippus, waits his chance 
To steal through their engirding walls. To-day 
The famous Carthaginian general, Barca, 
Holds parley with the Senate. With such aid, 
(Though more the Spartan valor than the wealth 
Of alien, barbarous, and traitor Carthage,) 
Our city shall be free. Now task thy arms 
To lift my heavy lance. 



14 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Adelia. So soon, my love ? 

Lucius. The minutes shrink to seconds by thy side. 
But I must seek Antenor. So farewell, 
Until the sun hath risen again. 

Adelia. Farewell ! 

They embrace and part. 



Scene II. 
The market place. People flock to and fro. 

ist Citizen. From Carthage? 

2nd Citizen. Heaven be praised ! The city's saved. 

3rd Citizen. Saved ? Does the lion rescue the gazelle 
Out of the tiger's clutch ? 

2nd Citizen. Hath he a force 

Attending him ? 

3rd Citizen. One comrade only. 

2nd Citizen. More 

Could scarce approach the city unperceived. 

3rd Citizen. But if the Senate yields his terms, his 
fleet, 
Now moored at Gela, will attack the foe. 



THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 1 5 

For mine own part I think this is a question 
Should come before the Assembly of the People. 

4TH Citizen. Who's seen the Carthaginian, noble 
Barca ? 
Hither he makes his way. A mighty form, 
Enwrapped in the fantastic Moorish robes, — 
Dark, curling locks, and beard like King Darius', 
A purple-black, inwoven with threads of gold, 
And odorous as a garden. 

3rd Citizen. Luxury 

Upon a soldier ? 

4th Citizen. Aye, a famous soldier. 

Hush ! here he comes. 

Enter Barca and Salander with a Syracusau escort. 

Salaxder (to Barca). The Athenian general, 
Xicias, is wasted, and his troops' fresh valor 
Departed with defeat. 

Barca. It must be so, 

Though it were better otherwise. What more ? 

Salaxder. From Hellas, far away, the message 
comes 
King Agis, on the heights of Decelea, 



1 6 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Pins Mother Athens' arms, and she must leave 
Her army here unsuccorecl. 

Barca. One more cause 

To side with Syracuse. 

Aloud, to the children following them. 

Come, pretty boy ! 
Could men engender such a face, Salander ? 
Two meeting Beauties, essences of air, 
A rosy day, when summer was benign, 
Being opposite and mutual-fashioned, mingled 
In flowery meadows, where the one became 
The other, and the other became thee. 
Good men of Syracuse, how blest are ye 
In your fair children ! Such are never seen 
At Carthage in the purest Tyrian strain, 
So golden-sunny. And blessed in your land, 
These soft Sicilian meadows, with mild flocks, 
Sweet vegetation, and the tribes of men 
Gentle amid the shower of gentleness. 
I come from Tunis and the wasted desert, 
Accursed of Heaven, where the swarming sands 
Close over caravans ; where monster beasts, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 1 7 

Indocile, war on man, and giant trees, 
The banyan and the baobab, spread forth 
Their axe-defying limbs like groves ; where streams 
Through the gnarled forests rolling, disappear 
Whither men dare not follow, lost o'er falls 
In dark and steaming caverns ; where hot fires 
Aye drizzle from the twisting wheels of Day, 
And singe the earth and char the face of man. 

2nd Citizen. I had as lief be dead in Tartarus 
As live in such a country. 

Captain of Escort. This way, lord. 

Barca. Ay, let us hasten. 

He sets down the child. 

Captain of Escort. To Antenor's house, 

The great High-Priest, our foremost senator. 

The people make ivay. 



1 8 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Scene III. 
A room. The High-Priest and Lucius. 

Lucius. Two things I fain would speak of, reverend 
sire. 

This Carthaginian — will the Senators 
Accept alliance with him ? or is it meet 
A question of so grave and general import 
Should come before the Assembly ? 

Antenor. We accepted 

In name of Syracuse, on terms of 'vantage, 
The friendship of Carthago. Noble Barca 
Despatches word to-morrow to his fleet 
To muster off Plemmyrium. 

Lucius. Hath this plan 

Thine own approval ? 

Antenor. I proposed the league. 

Lord Barca is my guest and dwells with me 
Within my mansion-house on Achradina, 
Hard by the garden where I shroud from war 
My daughter. Such seemed hospitality 
Fitting so famed a guest, and one whose worth 
Is infinite to Syracuse. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 1 9 

Lucius. Forgive me. 

For, truly, I revere even as a son 
Thy reverend counsels, and believe them truest, 
Under the wisdom of the Gods, that men 
Devise. Yet in the judgment of a man 
Lesser than thou, thou dost, thou hast done wrong. 
The breath of liberty begins to scent 
The very winds about us. I have seen 
Our boastful soldiery upon the walls 
Tie scrolls upon their arrows, and shoot taunts, 
Keener than gashes, at the weary foe. 
So near is victory. Yet underneath 
A placid-seeming stream, sharp ears detect 
Low murmurs, where the sunken boulders lie. 
Two such disturb the current of our life : 
First, famine ; secondly, the tyranny 
Of your too secret Senate. 

Antenor. Thus we toil 

For Syracuse, and thus doth Syracuse 
Requite us ! 

Lucius. The Assembly has not met 

This twelvemonth. At the outset of the siege, 
Perplexed by danger, all men looked to you, 



20 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Revered your measures, and obeyed you. Now — 
Far be it from me to shelter insolence ! — 
But you misuse the power occasion gave you ; 
The people are estranged, and if aught ill 
Should follow this alliance, I should fear — 

Antenor. What ? 

Lucius. Mutiny ! 

Antenor. Do such rebellious thoughts 

Enter their thankless hearts ? 

Lucius. The other counsel. 

This morning in the market-place, I saw 
The priestesses of Aphrodite pass, 
With Lais at their head. Softly they wound 
Their way towards Achradina, on whose heights 
The temple of their revelries doth stand. 
Close-veiled all marched, but Lais. She loose-clad ; 
And to the shoulder her soft-marble arm 
Hung bare, and white as snow. No vestal fire 
Had it upraised, but it was moulded smooth 
For warm caresses and for blandishment. 
A hush came o'er the people. Glance met glance. 
Then rose a murmur, which when they were passed 
Rang forth an execration. " Hast thou heard," 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 21 

One cried, " of shades that steal from Lethe lake, 

With hideous lamps that throw a jet-black flame, 

Dispersing the fair light, and casting gloom 

Of hell-fire on the clay ? oh, these are they." 

They cursed the passing women, and the temple, 

And cursed the revelries that, two nights hence, — 

The yearly night of the Aphrodisia, — 

(Unholy pieties, if men speak true), 

Are celebrate. Some say the air is charmed 

In one wide circle round the region ; birds 

Avoid it as polluted, screaming fear. 

Thus fear and hate are in the people's hearts, 

Which thou canst turn to love, with one soft word. 

Send back these priestesses, collected hither 

From who knows what dark dens of shame, Cotytto's 

Own priestesses impure ! 

Axtexor. Dost thou advise me ? 

And this advise ? O recreance of men ! 
How soon the heart forgets the holy fear 
Learned on the pious mother's knee, the prayer 
Once printed on the lips, the suppliance 
Unto the gracious Gods ! 

Lucius. Not pieties they blame, but deeds of night. 



22 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Antenor. They honor Aphrodite, Queen of Heaven, 

Lucius. Not Artemis and Aphrodite, too ? 

Antenor. They honor both, the mother and the 
maid. 

Lucius. Words, words. The rites are impious. 
Sire, forgive 
My flaming speech, — my message must be said. 
Gold, too, in hoards, they cry, lies treasured there. 
An altar in the inmost of the fane 
Drinks showers more prodigal than Danae's 
From shrine-enamored matrons. Vases, gems, 
All idly deck its chambers, and rich jars, 
Filled with a fire that burnetii to our shame, 
Or brimmed with unguents for the milky limbs 
Unclean of Lais' sisters. We are poor. 
The people cry for bread, and gold to buy 
The bread from friendly Gela. Seize the temple ! 

Antenor. Impious youth ! 

Lucius. Ay, seize the fane, they cry. 
Melt down the ewers and put the cleansing stamp 
Of Syracuse's mint on gold, pollute 
With orgies. 

Antenor. O thou mistress of the skies ! 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 21 

Thou mother of the miracle that joins 
Woman with man in marriage, and creates 
Now men arising while the old descend, 
Like waves that toss continuous on at sea, 
Turn not thy wrath upon these fools that scorn 
Thine oracle, thy priestesses, thy fane ! 
Youth, go ! We have no ears for calumny. 
No hand shall stay the rites of Aphrodite. 
No gold shall leave her altar, save by theft 
Most sacrilegious. 

Lucius. Sire, the people starve. 

Antenor. Too well I know the woe that over- 
hangs us. 
Could I appease their hunger with my flesh, 
Or cool their thirst with the red stream of blood 
That fills my heart, think'st thou I would not give 
them ? 

Lucius. Far lesser is the sacrifice they ask. 

Antenor. Nay, who dares brave the anger of the 
Gods, 
The mystic monarchs, whose imperative 
Dumb elements obey, and only man 
Demurreth, to his woe. Did they with voice 



24 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Of awe, as they of old in sacred story- 
Called Agamemnon, the Argolian king, 
Call me to lead my daughter to the shrine, 
And quench with these old hands my star of love, 
My soul's delight, my glory, my Adelia — 

Lucius. O God ! 

Antenor. I would obey their high commandment. 

Lucius. But think, my lord, — 

Antenor. Son, I have spoken. Go ! 



THE SIEGE OF SVRACUSE. 2$ 



31 ct *>ccon&. 

Scene I. 

Next morning. The market place. Wailing of women 
and uproar of men. A group of sailors, one of whom 
is speaking. 

Sailor. We three were cruising in the bay last 

night. 
With dawn the wind blew fresher, and we saw 
Among the white-caps, half a league away, 
A hundred war-ships, with the Attic ensign 
Fluttering at the mast. The bugles blew 
A welcome from the shore, and Charon cried 
" Demosthenes is come ! Home with the news ! " 
But one proud galley, fleeter than the rest, 
Came towards us like the wind. We tacked to meet 

her. 
Her prong went through poor Captain Andros' sloop. 
Two others tangled Charon in between them, 
And twenty chased me home. 



26 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSB. 

Women. Wo! Wo! Wo! Wo! 

Wo ! Wo ! to Syracuse. 

Citizens. The city's lost ! — 

O, for Gylippus with the help from Sparta ! — ■ 
Too late ! too late ! — 

Call the Assembly ! — 

Ay, 

Call the Assembly ! 

Can they make us men ? — 
And ships ? — 

And bread to save us from the famine ? 
Women. Wo ! Wo ! Wo ! Wo ! Wo ! Wo ! 

to Syracuse. 
A Citizen. Who was it spoke of famine ? I'd not 
heard 
The island was grown barren. Are not stalks 
Still green, and fruit still red, in Sicily ? 

Citizens. Thou mock'st us, Citizen Petros. Well 
thou knowest 
All our allies are poorer than ourselves, 
And we've no gold to purchase from the rest. 
Citizen Petros. You have gold. 

Citizens. Where ? 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 2J 

Citizen Petros. In Aphrodite's temple. 

Citizens. Oh ! 

Murmurs. 

Citizen Petros. Shrink not, friends ! Tis yours. 
Now, while the way 
Lies open through the fort, where Captain Lucius 
Holds Nicias' walls asunder, — gaping jaws, 
All-fain to close on hapless Syracuse ! — 
Rifle the fane ! Send merchants to the marts 
Of Camerina, shepherds to range for flocks 
The inland pastures. There is treasure there 
Would purchase a month's life for Syracuse. 
Give us but bread, and with the men and ships 
We have, we'll guard the city till Gylippus 
Arrives from Lacedaemon. 

Citizens. Seize the temple ! 

Prevent the Aphrodisia ! 

Down with Lais ! 
Down with the Senate ! 

Enter Lucius. 

Lucius. Friends, I thought I heard 

The voice of mutiny. What has befallen ? 



28 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Women in tears, with children clinging round them, 
And all your faces cheerless ? 

Citizen Petros. Bitter tidings ! 

Demosthenes is anchored at Plemmyrium 
With seventy triremes. 

Lucius. O thou God of Justice, 

How have we sinned that thou, even at the hour 
When hope was rosiest, shouldst heap the odds 
Against us to so mountainous a volume ? 

Women. Wo! Wo! Wo! Wo! Wo! Wo! to 
Syracuse. 

Lucius. What can I do to still your anguish ? Tell 
me, 
And I will do it. 

Citizens. Call the Assembly ! — 

Prevent the midnight revels ! — 

Seize the treasure ! 
The treasure, or we yield. 

Lucius. Surely, you are 

No Syracusans, but base foreigners. 
Did they outnumber us, as waves the rock, 
Bid them defiance, like our ancestors, 
When Xerxes posted his imperial seal 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 29 

Upon Thessalian Athos, and the hordes 
Hung over little Hellas like a cloud. 

Citizen Petros. O, thou and I, Lord Lucius, we 
are men, 
And we could bear the fast. But what of these, 
Our nursing mothers, children, aged ones, 
All hollow-cheeked with hunger ? This because 
The feeble Senate rules us ! This because 
One aged priest invokes the curse of God 
On them who stir his treasure ! Fond Antenor ! 
Not blessings, but rude wrath are Heaven's response 
For these, our shameful Aphrodisia, 
Writ in no Hellene calendar, but drawn 
From the luxurious Orient. 

Lucius. Good friends, 

What's hunger, weighed with plunder, rapine, chains, 
And endless slavery in the mines of Laurium ? 
Talk not of yielding, then. Think not the word. 
It is impossible. But if you will — 
You are the people — muster ! congregate ! 
Run hither, thither, bid each citizen, 
Captain, or scribe, ye meet upon your way, 
Gather at the Assembly-House : and there 



30 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Take ye good counsel. For what ye do there 
Is law for Syracuse. 

Citizen Petros. And for the Senate. 

Citizens. The Assembly ! — 

The Assembly ! — 

The Assembly ! 
Demosthenes is come ! — 

Call the Assembly ! 



Scene II. 
Antenors House. Barca and Salander. 

Barca. My forehead aches with subtleties. Three 
plans 
Have perished in the germ within an hour, 
But one is bourgeoning. Just now it bore 
A flower, the fairest organ of the herb, 
The cradle of the fruit. —Demosthenes 
Is come. 

Salander. Thou echoest the people's cry, 
But not their anguished accent : for thy tone 
Seems joyous. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 3 1 

Barca. Can the city stand before him ? 

Salander. He is a famous general. 

Barca. If we locked 

Our strength with his, how long could Syracuse 
Withstand our double army ? 

Salander. But the walls 

Of Syracuse are round us. To depart 
At such a moment would proclaim us spies, 
Not legates ; and as such, if I mistake not, 
We should be treated by the Syracusans. 

Barca. In my first dream of conquest, these slight 
isles 
Appeared an easy prey. I thought to gird 
All Sicily with fleets, and at her ports 
Take toll of her ripe harvests. Then I saw 
On either hand Illyria, Italy, 
Greece, Gallia to the rocks of Hercules, 
And all the nations of the Mediterranean, 
Enrich our boundless empire. Every town 
Upon a river's mouth, and every ship 
That ploughed the bosom of this inland ocean 
Carthage should own ; and, like a> mightier sea, 
O'erflow its shores and thunder at the base 



32 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Of the northern Alps, that loom impregnable 
And fend us from the snows. For this I lured 
Vain Athens on to storm this puissant city, 
And would have lent her aid, but Nicias, 
The weakling, courted failure, and I donned 
The mask of friendship to win entrance here 
Into the heart of Syracuse. Now fortune 
Changes her smile, and I throw off the mask. 
We must escape to the Athenians. 

Salander. Escape ? But how ? and when ? 

Barca. To-morrow midnight, 

It is the season of the Aphrodisia, 
Which these Greeks hate : and now, by famine crazed, 
And fear, and hatred of the haughty Senate, 
They swear they will prevent them ; while my host, 
Impracticable priest, resists their clamor, 
And swears they shall be held. Out of this feud 
I'll draw the clash of steel, whence shall leap forth 
A spark which shall cosuume the hated temple, 
And Syracuse beside. 

Salander. How, master ? 

Barca. Listen. 

Demosthenes, that night, forewarned in time, 



THE SIEGE OF SrRACUSE. 33 

Shall fall upon the embroiled Syracusans, — 
Unarmed, in mutiny, and unsuspecting, — 
Scale their sea-wall, and swarm their avenues 
With irresistible might. 

Sa lander. Hast bribed some Greek 

To bear the message to Demosthenes ? 

Barca. Nay, that's a service of a deeper faith 
Than gold could buy. Thou would'st not fear to swim 
Across the harbor to the Athenian fleet ? 

Salaxder. Fear, master? 

Barca. Thou wilt bear the message, then. 

I stay to hide thy flight, and 'mid the riot 
Will easily make way. But — 

Hast thou marked 
The beauty of Antenor's child, Adelia ? 
There's music in the name ! Adelia ! 

Salaxder. Which ? 

Barca. The taller of the twain, the one whose 
cheeks 
Show waves of blushes. Yea, she must be mine. 
Oh, she is luscious as a Lesbian grape, 
That drop of unpressed wine. Yet in her eye 
A glance superior, an inborn law, 



34 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

O'errules my else unbridled love. I would 
She had some trivial fault, some little spot ! 
Hath she a brother? 

Salander. How should I know, master? 

Barca. I would she had ! In him I'd read her 
faults. 
Her womanhood mists them over. O, I rave. 
She hath no faults ; she is perfect as the stone 
I wear upon my finger. 

Salander. Hast forgot 

Poor, dark-eyed Hari ? She would grieve to hear 
How thou dost praise the azure-eyed Adelia. 

Barca. Poor Hari ! I am inconstant unto thee. 
But why inconstant ? 'Tis no single rose 
We love, although a queen ; 'tis but the kind. 
For any rose is fair. From this and that 
We smell the delicate odor ; here and there 
We pluck one. So with women as with roses. 
'Tis scarce inconstancy. 
But mark ! she must be mine. 

Salander. Speak, master, on. 

I've served thee twenty years, and never seen 
Such knots of tangled danger. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 35 

Barca. We must seize 

The maiden on that night. 

Salander. How slip the guard ? 

How reach the shore ? 

Barca. If but the light of heaven 

Is veiled, how far can man's poor torches pierce 
Earth's shadow ? Hast thou never seen by night 
A sleeping city on a shore afar, 

How like mere sparks the lights gleamed, thinly scat- 
tered 
Amid the darksome mass ? Each bank of gloom 
Housed felons and their deeds. So shall the night 
Befriend us. But I must be expeditious. 
Upon this tablet I will brand the message, 
Which slip beneath the sole-piece of thy sandal ; 
Then thong it tightly. Plunge, and thou'rt away, 
While I go brew a charm of slumb'rous herbs 
To drug the fair Adelia. 'Mid the uproar, 
With her, embalmed in poison-sleep, — a burden 
That I could lift o'er Atlas' ridge, I think, — 
I'll reach the shore, and keep m hiding there 
Till ye arrive. That I may know thee sooner, 
Hang up a red light in thy galley. Hush ! 



36 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 

Anterior comes — and bid Demosthenes 

Be prompt ! — This was the flower of my plan, 

That cradles the blest fruit. 



Scene III. 
A hall. The fifty captains of Syracuse. 

Lucius. Age against age, 

Sloth against laggard caution, feeble will 
Against irresolution and delay, 
Such, brothers, is the story of this siege 
While Nicias and our Senate faced each other. 
But now the young Demosthenes arrives, 
Ever-victorious, in whose armament 
I see the doom of Syracuse, if we, 
The city's captains, skilled and bold in war, 
Match not our might with his, — youth against youth, 
Swift counsel 'gainst swift counsel, and hard blows 
Against hard blows. 

ist Captain. Why, I have been in sieges 
Where every face was cheerful as a band 
Of maidens on a holiday. For each 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 37 

Had wrought and riveted upon his soul 

The viewless, but invulnerable armor 

Of adamantine courage. But look round, 

And see the tear-wet faces, telling tales 

Of trembling hearts. Are then our people cowards ? 

By Mars ! I do not brag, but there are none 

Braver in all the world ; and if some scourge 

Swept off our army in a night, our wives 

Would man the empty walls and fight the foe. 

But there's one foe strikes foul, and few so brave 

As not to fear him, — Famine ! Woe the word ! 

This have our guilty Senate drawn upon us 

By their imprudent spendings, and now stand 

Too witless to relieve the misery 

Their witlessness has caused. 

Lucius. Good friend, we owe 

A reverence to white hairs. Whate'er our acts, 
Still let our words be kind. 

ist Captain. What owe we then 

Unto the people, whose Assembly, held 
This very hour, commissions us with power 
Supreme, to rule the city ? At my post 
My soldiers are awaiting me. I ask 



38 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Some means to check the midnight revelries, 
Orgies and dances and demoniac laughter, 
That else will mock in silence of the night 
Upon yon hill the misery of the city. 

2nd Captain. The wealthiest shrine in Sicily. 
What shame 
To put this gold to evil use, which, turned 
To good, would prove so potent ! Hear my plan. 
To-morrow night let's march to Achradina, 
Disperse the priestesses, and seize the treasure, 
Then burn the cursed pollution to the ground ! 

Captains. Well counselled ! We approve ! 

2nd Captain. Vague whispers passed 

Will reassure the people all is well. 

Captains. Ay, we approve ! 

2nd Captain. Antenor must not know, 

Nor any Senator. When all is done, 
Then let them fume in vain. 

Captains. Ay, we approve ! 

Lucius. Brothers, I beg you think me not behind 
In hatred of the revels, nor in wish 
To gain the needed treasure for the people. 
And yet, beware of haste. The sculptor moulds 



THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 39 

No statue from the snow-banks in the fields, 

Though of a more than Parian tissue, pure 

And pliant to the skill of supple fingers. 

Better the marble block that but with toil 

And sweat gives shape, cold, everlasting shape 

To burning thoughts. Better the slow- wrought counsel ! 

Something in the proposal I approve, 

Something I fear. I love the aim ; I fear 

The haste, the violence, the secrecy. 

ist Captain. One voice of mild dissuasion. Thou 
hast cause 
To love Antenor, Lucius. It is meet 
To honor the High-Priest. But, grieve who will, 
This treasure must be ours, — the revels checked, — 
Ay, and the temple burned. If openly 
We cry our purpose forth — thou know'st Antenor, 
The rocky will, from which rebound alike 
Entreaty and command. 

Lucius. Be it not said 

By him who writes our tale in years to come, 
Twining a garland of sweet poesy 
Around my lance of war, that even the voice 
Of love had power against the voice of duty, 



40 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Or that I, fearing to grieve my lord Anterior, 
Wronged all the Syracusans. I approve. 

ist Captain. Seal the deliberation with an oath. 
By father Zeus, the king of Gods and men, 
By Styx' black stream, the oath unutterable, 
By all things sacred, mortal and immortal, 
We set the seal of silence on our lips. 

All. We set the seal of silence on our lips. 



Scene IV. 
Antenor' s House. Barca and Antenor. 

Antenor. Name me the godless rebels ! 

Barca. For the names — 

My comrade overheard the plot, — Salander, 
A worthy soldier, — at to-morrow midnight 
They were to march and burn some temple, — which, 
I know not, — seize its treasures, and disperse 
The priestesses assembled. Being a stranger, 
Unskilled in Greek, my comrade missed the names. 
I, fearing treason, which forever basks 
In secrecy, and eager to give earnest 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 4 1 

Of my devotion, which has hitherto 
Lived only in professions, brought the tale, 
To thee, most reverend in authority — 

Antenor. I reverend ! Nay, I am the meanest 
slave. 
Dost thou not see my priestly office mocked, 
Myself a scorn for strangers, violent hands 
Constraining me to do their evil will ? 

faithless generation ! Do ye think 

No judging eye beholds ye through the dark ? 
And fear ye not His thunderbolt, the missile 
No mortal speed can shun, no shield can ward ? 
It smites the haughty eagle as he soars, 
Strong-winged, above the peaks, amid the storm ; 
Down through the heavens the zigzag lightning bursts, 
And cleaves him, and he falls. So ye shall fall. 

Barca. My sword is thine. Enroll me in the band 
Thou marshall'st to chastise them. 

Antenor. Generous stranger, 

Thy singular devotion pierces me. 

1 would I knew the names. Nay, sheathe thy sword. 
Leave me to intercept the deed of shame ; 

It is beneath thine office. In thy name, 



42 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

O powerful Aphrodite, in the name 
Of Syracuse, lest vengeance overtake 
This impious crime, I'll summon to my side 
The faithful and the good. I thank thy zeal, 
Lord Barca. Would I knew the names. My task 
Were easier. 

Barca. Poor priest ! It needs no craft 

To work on thee. Now for Demosthenes. 



Scene V. 

A bower in the secluded garden. Twilight. Lucius 
and A deli a. 

"Adelia. 
Now day departeth like a fading smile 
That lingers on the lips of sea and heaven ; 
And men float dreamward to the blessed isle 
Of slumber, o'er a drowsy ocean driven 
By night, the beauteous and the mourning mother. 
Now one by one the vesper stars aloft 
Steal through the gathering gloom ; and hush ! oh, 
hush! 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 43 

For here and there and all about us, soft, 
Cool water-music bubbles, like the gush 
Of garden springs that sing to one another. 

Lucius. 

If to be dead were but to dwell in pleasance 
Amid the glories of yon sunset sky, 
Hanging above the earth, a God-like presence, 
High in the west, were it not sweet to die ? 
O fiery radiance, what art thou, say ? 
Thy hues outrival Iris, and shame Flora, 
When, breaking early buds o'er hill and hollow, 
She leadeth through the lands the month of May ! 
Art thou a vision of the young Aurora, 
That visitest the slumbers of Apollo ? 

Adelia. 

Whether the final harmony is death, 
And all this life melts out in subtle fusion 
With yon Sky-Presence, at surcease of breath, — 
Reunion with the world, sweet dissolution, 
As of a dew-drop in the morning air ; 
Whether our souls live forward to some flower 



44 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Of soul-perfection, 'mid a spirit host, 
Aye hung like incense-clouds before a Power 
Of majesty divine ; Oh, who can boast 
To know the answer of that question fair ? 

Lucius. 

I would not live where there is no communion 

With thee, O lordly Nature, no full sight 

Of all thy beauteous parts, in sweetest union, 

My love, my meditation, my delight. 

In thee the waters and the woods abide ; 

In thee the bough-bird sings, in summer's van ; 

This is thy changeful sky, now seamed with levin, 

Now blue and calm ; on thee, as on a bride 

The beautiful poet, young and shy of man, 

Presses his burning heart, and murmurs " Heaven ! " 

Adelia. 

He loves, and listens for the warm response, 
Love's sweetness ; but the siren's breast is hollow, 
Empty of love. The forests and the fonts 
Regard him not, and when he fain would follow 
The sweet, wild doe, she, with misgiving eyes, 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 45 

Flees farther in the glade. Cold is the light, 
Cold the unspeakable, eye-delighting glow 
That nlleth heaven when day is born or dies. 
Nay, poet shy of man, man will requite 
Thy love with love cold Nature cannot know. 

Lucius. 

Thy soul is learned in the lore of love. 

Teach me the wisdom in thy bosom chambered. 

Yea, to be prized all other things above, 

Smiled on, endeared, nay, but to be remembered 

Upon that other shore of Death's dead stream, 

By one pure maiden here, to wed two hearts 

Like thine and mine, is rapture deeper, higher, 

Than contemplation, or the poet's dream, 

Or tinselled treasure of the whole world's marts. 

'Tis the fruition of all soul's desire. 

Adelia. 

Look, love, without ! How yon gold dial shines, 
Whose needle's shadow marks the moving hour. 
And shafts of splendor pierce the lacing vines 
That, thick-embranching, darken all the bower. 



46 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

The moon hath risen by stealth to overhear us, 
And night's black garb is silvered with a hue 
Not on the rainbow palette of the day. 
Look, where with phosphoral path a meteor flew ; 
But ere thou turnest it hath waned away 
Behind yon bank of cloud that floateth near us. 

Lucius. 

Hast ever marked, amid the golden signs, 

A vague-felt shimmer of unseen starlight playing 

Behind the globed orbs ? My soul divines 

A myriad stars, imbedding and inlaying 

Invisible spheres, yet to be seen of men. 

Thus oft are thoughts foreshadowed by the soul, 

Beyond the very verge of mortal sight, 

Which Time, unrolling the unending scroll 

Of truth, reads ages after. Hark ! the night 

Is riven by a voice — again ! — again ! 

Glaukds voice is heard afar, singing, 

ARIADNE. 

I make my pillow 
A mossy stone, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 4 J 

Sleeping alone 
Under the willow, 
Under the weeping tree. 
The nightingale 
Mocks in my ear, 
Singing so near 
Out of the vale, 
" Sweet is my life to me ! 
Sweet is my life to me ! " 

My home was a palace, 
And hers a bough, 
But now, ah, now ! 
She drinks a chalice 
Of rapture and I of rue. 
No fair-faced lover 
Led her away, 
And then one day 
Sailed off, false rover, 
Bidding her never adieu ; 
Bidding me never adieu. 



48 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE, 

Voices of flowers sing softly : 

Hark ! hark ! a nightingale is in the garden ; 
Or one of the orioles that linger long 
In Sicily's lovely woodlands. Pardon, pardon, 
'Tis Philomel's own inarticulate song, 
Lip-broken into words. Adieu ! Adieu ! 
How softly in the air the echoes float! 
While in yon leafy bower two lovers true, 
Severing with tears, repeat the plaintive note. 
Adieu ! all things are parting. Let us flowers, 
Rose, lily, dahlia, heliotrope, camellia, — 
List to the lovely naming of our choir, — 
Answer Adieu ! Adieu ! fair daylight hours ; 
Adieu ! bright stars ; Adieu ! brown bird of fire ; 
Adieu ! sweet lovers, Lucius and Adelia. 



THE SIEGE OF S l'RACUSE. 49 



Scene I. 

A moonlight night. The Temple of Aphrodite. On 
a sloping bank that leads dozen from the temple, 
youths recline with lyres. Fountains play at the 
sides. In front, on a level law?i i maidens dance. 
Slow music, gradually quickening. 

Maidens. 

While men seek slumber and the tired flocks rest, 
And o'er their path in heaven's eternal arch 
The eastern stars are floating to the west, 

The moon o'erhangs the sea ; 
We, Aphrodite's nymphs, in garb of snow, 
With hallowed dances round her temple march, 
Chanting the happy choruses that flow 

From joyous ecstasie. 



50 THE SIEGE OF S TRAGUS E. 

Come, bloomy maid, come join our merry bands, 
And leave the drowsy virgins to their dreams, 
Roam up with us the sloping mountain lands 

Where winds blow wild and cool ; 
Oft loitering on the banks to bathe thy locks 
In the delicious waters of the streams ; 
Or, if in any basin of the rocks 

They pour a crystal pool, 

All screened in shrubs, and brinked with flowers of 

gold, 
Wherein, perchance, the naked naiad swims, 
There slip the knots and girdles that enfold 

Thy Cytherean bloom, 
And in the unrippled water-mirror mark 
The lily beauty of thy spotless limbs, 
That gleam like marble in the dewy dark 

And all the lake illume. 

Youths. 

Come, youth, leave strife and fierce alarms, 
The clangor of steel and the pain of blows, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 5 1 

And repose, like Mars, in the soft, warm arms 

Of thy Venus, from the war. 
Her lips say " Away," but her eyes say " Come ! M 
And her cheeks outvie the superb wild rose, 
And her tresses the fleece of Elysium 

That the Argo voyaged for. 

Come, follow the maids who day and night 
Heed but the sense and the longing of joy 
That fills man's blood with a wild delight, 

Veining him as with fire. 
Come, take thy part in the ring-round whirl, 
On thy right hand Eros, the lovely boy, 
On thy left a red-lipped, laughing girl, 

All dancing to my lyre. 

Come where the nightingale learned to sing, 

From Aleale, sweeter than she, 

Whom we chase through the valleys, abloom with spring, 

But still she escapes afar. 
For when we are nearest, away ! away ! 
She outruns Atalanta over the lea, 
And sings in her flight like a lark at day 

Taking wing for the morning star. 



$2 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Lais. 

When Aphrodite rose from the foam 

'Mid shining drops that clung in showers — 

The temple bursts into flame. The fifty captains appear 
011 its steps. 

Lucius. Away, foul women ! Thou, with raven 
hair 
That flecks thy snowy shoulders, — Fallen Lais ! 
I would mine eye were solid fire to brand 
Red shame upon thy forehead, and bring back 
The blush of maidenhood that dyed thy cheeks, 
When, still a smiling girl, thou dwelt at home 
Among thy people, wayward but beloved. 
What do ye here on this unhappy night, 
When every woman's bed in Syracuse 
Should be bedewed with tears, bidding this hill 
Shake with the light-foot dances till it rocks 
The citizen from his troubled sleep below ? 
He wakes and hears, then sleeps again and dreams 
The Furies ride the night winds, trumpeting 
Wild, demon laughter o'er the hapless city. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 53 

He comes forward. The High-Priest and a guard rush 
in, and surround the captains and tJie dancers. 

Axtenor. Lucius! — Must I believe 

Mine eyes and not my heart ? Thou, whom I loved 
Even as a son, because my daughter loved thee, 
The daily vision of whose fair young face 
Gladdened my heart. For " Now the rust of age 
Is in my hair, the winter in my beard," 
Thought I, ''soon must my daughter bear her fruit 
To greet me ere I die, as springtime buds 
Greet withering winter. Noble is the blood 
That mingles for their birth. So shall they be 
Well-worthy scions of Antenor's line." 
Sooner would I have thought mine own right hand 
Intrigued against me than that thou would'st do 
This cunning deed, at which the vaulted sky 
Should burst, and vengeance fall the ancient path, 
Straight, swift, from God's own hand. 

Lucius. Most reverend sire, 

Are these thy ministers ? This midnight orgie 
Thy holy festival ? Thou canst not know 
What lewd and evil follies festered here, — 
The wanton motions, dances, satyr-songs 



54 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Fouling the lips of maidens. If these things 
Are holy, we blaspheme, with torch and sword 
Blaspheme ; though on the eternal calendar 
Of Him whose heart is grieved by deeds of shame, 
I think such blasphemy would write our names 
In glory, not in blame. And call our deed 
Not cunning, though we wear the secret mask 
Of night in it. But for thy sake the deed 
Were blazoned forth to daylight, that all men 
Might hail it with rejoicing. Well we feared 
The blow we aimed at sin would fall on thee, 
Who art the noble shield of things ignoble. 
So now thou know'st our purpose was not ill. 
I kiss thy robes, — unbend thine iron frown, 
And speak a golden blessing on our deed, 
Our honorable deed, which brings heart's ease 
Unto the Syracuse thou lovest dearly. 

Antenor. Rebuild, 

Rebuild yon massy roof, festooned with fires 
That shrivel up its marble majesty 
To ashes in mine eyes. Then ask my blessing. 
Son, son, I will not curse thee. Pour, O heavens, 
Thy fountains on these fires, that he may live, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 55 

If it is just he live. — No answer comes ; 
Nought but a fiercer sighing of the flames. 
That vault high up the night, and weirdly fling 
Wild-leaping shadows o'er us. As when rains 
Hiss o'er the tropic seas and whirlwinds lash 
The bare, broad back of ocean, on the base 
Of some huge cliff the billows, breaking, toss 
Huge flakes of foam in air, so rise the waves 
Of conflagration o'er the fated fane, 
And one by one the pillars bend and fall. 
Enough ! bind them and him. 

Lucius. What would'st thou do ? 

Not bind the fifty captains of the city, 
Her nobles and commanders ? 

Axtexor. By the Gods, 

Whose laws outweigh all usages of men, 
Both they and thou shall answer on the morrow 
Before a meet tribunal for this crime. 

Lucius. Wreak all thy sacred vengeance on my head, 
But I implore thee, stir no bloody feud. 
Sheathe up thy sword ! 

Antenor. Not until every knave 

Surrenders. 



56 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Captains. Insolent priest, beware ! 
Antenor. Upon them ! 

The guard attacks the captains. 

Lucius. Antenor ! Comrades ! 

(A shriek.) 
The moon ! 

Priestesses. The moon ! 

The moon ! 
Antenor. What miracle 

Arrests your waving blades ? How all the air 
Grows black as Styx ! 

The priestesses prostrate themselves. The captains 
draw back. The moon is eclipsed. 

Voices. The moon ! 

Antenor. O Artemis ! 

Dost thou conceal thy pure, pale face aloft 
Against the deeds of men, and set the sign 
Of God's displeasure, the far-feared eclipse, 
Upon the face of heaven ? Trembling I cast 
Mine eyes to thee, and I am cold with fear, 
Although my heart is clean. O what confusion 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. $7 

Must fill the hearts of them who dare profane 
God's mysteries, and set their littleness 
'Gainst his triumphant grandeur ! 

Lozv c 'hat it of Priestesses. 

Artemis ! Artemis ! shine again, 
Hide the frown of thine awful anger ; 
Heed the prayer of thy meek adorers, 

Stricken with fear of thy righteous wrath. 

While the eyes of wrangling men 
Saw but each other, thou, unobserved, 
Stole away to the dark horizon, 

Leaving the night all black in thy path. 

Artemis ! Artemis ! shine again. 

Artemis ! Artemis ! shine again. 

A pause. 

Antenor. Is not the meaning of the Gods writ plain 
Upon the dome of heaven ? 

Lucius. Whoe'er they be 

That interpose to check this fatal strife, 
I thank them. Comrades, sheathe your swords. 



58 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Antenor, 
Let them depart, for Syracuse hath need 
Of her commanders on the walls to-night. 
Bind me, and I will pledge my life for them 
To stand with me, and answer on the morrow 
The charges thou shalt make. 

Antenor. So let it be. 

Bitter, oh bitter, is my heart to see 
Thee, Lucius, bound, a felon, at my feet. 
For what tribunal, though of love and mercy 
Impanelled, could adjudge thee innocent ? 
Thy guilt is clear as sunlight. With this chain 
I set thy doom upon thee. 

Lucius. Comrades, sheathe 

Your swords, and heed him not. To-morrow stand 
And plead for Lucius, not with angry steel, 
But with the voice of reason at the throne 
Of Reason's daughter, Justice. 

The moon comes out. 
Priestesses. Artemis ! 

A multitude has gathered. 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 59 

Antenor. Arise, ye servants of the holy Gods ; 
Arise, good citizens, and let them stoop 
In fear, on whom the goddess casts her frown. 
For ns she smiles, approving what we do. 
Arise and join my prayer. 

Chant, led by Antenor. 

Antenor. To the Lord, Giver of all good, to the 

most High, 
Chorus. To the Lord, Giver of all good, to the 

most High, 
Antenor. Be the hearts lifted, the prayers uttered, 

the works given, 
Chorus. Be the hearts lifted, the prayers uttered, 

the works given, 
Antenor. Of all men dwelling on earth under the 

broad sun ! 
Chorus. Of all men dwelling on earth under the 

broad sun ! 
Antenor. Him the vast powers, enthroned high in 

the huge Heaven, 
Chorus. Him the vast powers, enthroned high in 

the huge Heaven, 



60 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Antenor. Him the dark monarchs whose realms 

lie where the dead lie, 
Chorus. Him the dark monarchs whose realms lie 

where the dead lie, 
Antenor. Him the lost ones, the unfearing, the 

foul sm-shod, 
Chorus. Him the lost 6nes, the unfearing, the foul 

sin-shod, 
Antenor. Him the fair folk that on earth's rim a 

life-race run, 
Chorus. Him the fair folk that on earth's rim a life- 
race run, 
Antenor. All obey, shunning the dread wrath of 

the Lord God, 
Chorus. All obey, shunning the dread wrath of the 

Lord God, 
Antenor. Of the Lord God, of the Lord God, of 

the Lord God, 
Chorus. Of the Lord God, of the Lord God, of the 

Lord God. 

Antenor. When the dark tempest invades Heaven, 
with its wide wings 



THE SIEGE OF Sl'RACUSE. 6 1 

Chorus. When the dark tempest invades Heaven, 

with its wide wings 
Antenor. Far outspread over the bright light of 

the day-star, 
Chorus. Far outspread over the bright light of the 

day-star, 
Antenor. And the air glooms in their black shade, 

and the seas surge, 
Chorus. And the air glooms in their black shade, 

and the seas surge, 
Antenor. And the soft harmony, joy-blown, that 

the wind sings 
Chorus. And the soft harmony, joy-blown, that the 

wind sings 
Antenor. Turns to discord and the strange shrieks 

of the storm-dirge 
Chorus. Turns to discord and the strange shrieks 

of the storm-dirge 
Antenor. Till the rainbow on the hills sets her 

tiara. 
Chorus. Till the rainbow on the hills sets her tiara. 
Antenor. Then all hearts bow to the dread wrath 

of the Lord God, 



62 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Chorus. Then all hearts bow to the dread wrath of 

the Lord God, 
Antenor. Of the Lord God, of the Lord God, of 

the Lord God. 
Chorus. Of the Lord God, of the Lord God, of the 

Lord God 






Scene II. 



Out in the harbor. The eclipse. Burning temple in 
the distance. Barca in a skiff. 

Barca. Where were ye, false Athenians ? Saw ye 
not 
My beacon on the heights of Syracuse ? 
O, had ye answered it, the town were mine, 
Adelia mine. — I watched her by the shore. 
But chance would have it that my flashing blade 
Betrayed me to a guard. By rock and bank 
Long I eluded them, until at last 
The hue and cry grew louder at my heels. 
This chance-found shallop saved me. But I lost 



THE SIEGE OF S2'I?ACC r SE. 63 

Adelia. She lies slumbering on the beach, 

And I am far away. Courage ! Are those 

The ghostly outlines of a fleet at anchor ? 

They hang a lantern in the foremost galley. 

Friends ! — How my voice sounds hollow in the 

night ! — 
They heard me not. The vessels' sides are lined 
With sailors, staring at the double portent, 
The burning temple and the hidden moon. 
Salander ! 

A Voice. Master,, is it thou ? 

Barca. 'Tis I. 

Salander. The Gods be praised, I trembled for 
thy life. 

Barca rows near. 

Barca. What keeps ye here ? 

Salander. Astarte's darkening. 

We put to sea, and just had caught the breeze, 
When lo ! she masked her light. The augurs cried 
It was an evil omen, and Lord Nicias 
Bade us return. 

Barca. O magic-ridden fool ! 



64 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Salander. Methought at first the plan was over- 
bold. 

Barca. My plan was perfect as a crystal sphere 
That wizards study for the laws of numbers. 
But it is hard to walk through life as men 
Are doomed to walk, backward, and shun the rock 
Of hazard in our way. — Take me aboard, 
And bring me to Demosthenes. 



THE SIEGE OE Sl'EACC/SE. 6$ 



3tct fourth 

Scene I. 
On the beach, next morning. Glauka and Adelia. 

Adelia (waking). O such a dream ! Where am I ? 

Glauka. On the beach, 

Dear lady. 

Adelia. Who art thou ? 

Glauka. Why, I am Glauka, 

Dost thou not know me ? 

Adelia. So thou art. At first, 

I did not know thee. 

Glauka. Pray, what brought thee here 

Unto this lonely region of the shore ? 

Adelia. Here ! — Where ? — Are we in Syracuse ? 

Glauka. Why, surely. 

Thou know'st the houses and the fields around. 

Adelia. There is a mist upon mine eyes. Ah, 
now, 



66 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Now I remember. It was in the garden, 

At eventide ; I broidered in my bower 

With idle fingers, thinking of my betrothed, 

And smiling at my thoughts. When lo ! I felt 

A fume of spices, myrrh, and poppy-juice 

And strange aromas floating in the air, 

And all so thick compounded that they made 

A sickening sweetness, and my breath came heavy, 

My eyelids drooped, and I had sunk aswoon, 

But two broad, mighty arms embraced me. " Hush ! " 

A voice said. " Have no fear. I love thee, love thee." 

And when I oped my eyes, thou canst not think 

Whose burning gaze met mine ? 

Glauka. Truly, I cannot. 

Adelia. The Carthaginian, Barca. 

Glauka. Wonderful ! 

O wonderful ! 

Adelia. Mine eyes were sealed in slumber, 

Yet still some faint sense in me was astir 
Of being borne upon the wind, on, on, 
As if I were a bird. I heard the plash 
Of waves, and murmur of the sea ; then shouts 
Pursuing, and the mighty arms embraced 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 67 

Me closer, and we flew with fiercer speed. 
Until at last I felt myself laid down 
As lightly as a mother lays her babe 
Upon its downy cradle. Night and silence 
Around me, close to my ear the dashing waves. 
I slept, — and when I woke just now 'twas lightsome. 
Glauka. Yes, it is morning, love. The night is 
over. 

such a fearful night ! I tossed and tossed 
Upon my bed, and never slept a wink, 

So full of uproar was the city. Dawn 

Awoke me, palely gazing through my curtains, 

And I arose. Attired, I cast a glance 

Into thy chamber. Thou wast gone, thy couch 

Unpressed. I called thee, softly as I could, 

Not to awake thy father in the house. 

For still I thought thou hadst but slept o'ernight 

In some still corner of the garden. Nay, 

Thy bower was empty. Only the dawn-choir 

( >f thrushes answered me. Bewildered then 

1 passed without the gate. What drew my steps 
Down toward the beach, I know not. On this brink 
I found thee, slumbering, like an ocean-maid 



68 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

High-stranded by the tide. I touched and kissed 
And rocked thee, all in vain. The wings of sleep 
Were locked above thy brow, thy marble brow, 
And as I watched thee, lo ! the rising sun 
Shone warmer, and the breeze 'gan gently chafe 
Thy cheeks to their own bloom. Thy bosom sighed, 
Thy lips 'gan move, murmuring " Such a dream ! " 

Adelia. A wondrous story ! Nay, dear, I am 
strong. 
Were it not best go tell my father of it ? 

Glauka. Love, thou art faint and dizzy. 

Adelia. I am sure 

'Twas Barca. Canst thou think why he should wish 
To bring me hither, Glauka ? 

Glauka. Nay, I cannot. 

But we must tell thy father. Canst thou walk 
Along the beach ? 

Adelia. There is a cottage, yonder. 

The people seem astir. 

Glauka. This way, Adelia. 

It is the smoother path. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 69 

Scene II. 

The Senate-House) an open theatre. The Senate sit- 
ting as tribunal. The High- Priest as accuser ; 
Lucius ana 7 the captains as accused. The urn of 
Pardon and the urn of Death. Populace. Ruins 
of temple visible on the hill. 

Antenor. No more, out on the sea, rounding the 
cape 
Pachynus, shall the foreign mariner, 
Whene'er the beauteous crest of Syracuse 
Looms in the northern horizon, enthroned 
Upon its rocky mountain, say "There stands 
Some old, illustrious capital, beloved 
Of Heaven, and blessed with sweet prosperity. 
Look, eyes ! rude hands have shorn our crested pride. 
What see we now upon yon hill where late 
Stood marble columns, atlasing a dome 
Of porphyry ? What see we in their stead ? 
Smoke-columns tremble in the wind, infirm. 
The air is vacant of its loveliness. 
O, last fair symbol of our early days, 
Memorial of the simple saints of old, 



70 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Whose age men well call golden, for they lived 

Amid the arcanal forest, in the ways 

Of simple piety, and reaped the meed 

Of piety, fair peace ; thou, on whose site 

Stood that famed oracle of Aphrodite, 

Wise as sublime Dodona, where the God 

Speaks wisdom through his prophets. Woe to them 

That marred thee ! woe to us, who, having left 

The cloistered shades of the arcanal forest, 

Rive and re-rivet to our needs the oak 

That sheltered us, upbuilding haughty cities, 

And, waxing strong, o'erween, nor bend our knees. 

Nor beat our breasts in prayer, but lightly scoff 

Such meek abasement ! Woe to us ! for God 

Is mightier than the mightiest of men, 

Mighty to bless his friends, mighty to lame 

His enemies. For midway in their course 

Of pride, they stumble. Death, remorse, defeat, 

O'ertake them, or the rare eclipse is seen, 

The visible frown of the invisible Lord. 

I stand alone against a babbling host ; 
But, being an ancient warrior of the Gods, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 7 1 

I fear them not. For God I stand. With God 

They strive who strive with me. Most worthy judges, 

The penalty of sacrilege is death. 

Lucius. Death ? and for what, most reverend sire ? 

Thyself 
Must own I ever loved religion well, 
That sweet religion which the Maker wrought 
Into man's spirit, as the Arab girl 
Weaves one rare golden thread amid the shawl 
She weaveth of the smooth-shorn camel's hair. 
All through the pattern rich it runs. Who plucks 
That forth, unravels all. 'Tis true we burned 
A sumptuous fane of frolic Aphrodite. 
Home of carousals, consecrated plague, 
What ceaseless sprinkling of prayer-perfumed waters 
Could make thee pure ? What incense hallow thee ? 
For this we merit honor, and not death. 
Death ? O most reverend sire and Senators, 
Death for myself I fear not. I have faced 
A thousand deaths, and count my life at nought 
Against my country's peace. But here I stand 
Pleading to-day, not for my life, but yours, 
Lest in the spirit of party, and chagrin 



72 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

For powers and honors by the Assembly's vote 
Ta'en from you, — blind to the encircling perils, 
Demosthenes without, famine within, — ye judge 
To death the fifty captains, the sword-arm 
Of Syracuse, now more than ever needful. 
Look on the lots crisped careless in your hands. 
What see ye there ? The lots ? No more ? Ye see 
My living heart, but nought of that. No more ? 
Ye see the lives of fifty noble youths, 
Your own lives and your people's, and the life 
Of Syracuse. Go, cast them in the urn 
That stands for Death. Then bid the sentinels 
Swing wide your gates asunder, that the foe 
May march in o'er your bodies. I am done. 
Chief Senator. Is there no more to say ? 

May Justice light 
Our minds, and guide us to the rightful path ! 
I weigh thy charge, An tenor, and thy words, 
Young Lucius ; and my vote is cast for death. 

Uproar among the people and clash of arms. Enter 
Gylippus with a group of Spartans, and a Syra- 
cusan escort. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. /3 

Gvlippus. Show me the generals. 

Guardsman. Here. 

Gylippus. It is a pretty pageantry ye hold. 

Meanwhile a band of Spartan boys could scale 
Your walls, and take your city. 

Chief Senator. Lord Gylippus ! 

The Senators rise. TJie theatre becomes silent. 

Welcome to Syracuse ! our famed ally, 

And kinsman by our Dorian ancestry. 

Thou com'st upon us at an evil hour. 

Well may the soldiers' discipline be lax 

When they that govern them stand here accused 

Of monstrous lawlessness. 

Gylippus. At such an hour 

I know but one crime, — treason. It is met 
With Death. 

Chief Senator. Mere treason injures only man. 
Their deed, more black, offends the holy Gods. 
Last night they burned a fane of Aphrodite, 
And when we, with the noble priest, Antenor, 
Sought to chastise them, turned their impious swords 
On us, their elders. But the miracle 



74 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Of Artemis cast terror on their hearts. 
To-day thou seest them pleading for their lives, 
Before the Senators of Syracuse, 
Sole judges of the crime of sacrilege. 

Lucius. Hear me, Lord ! 

We burned the fane. But know, the hand of hunger 
Is at our throats, and, being the city's captains, 
Commissioned by the Assembly with the powers 
We held ere these proud Senators, now benched 
In judgment over us, usurped them, — urged 
By all the people, — we made bold to seize 
The treasures of yon temple. This is the sum 
Of our black conduct. We love Syracuse. 
They love her Senate. Lord, thou art a soldier. 
Then judge us as a soldier. 

Gylippus. I had done 

The same, and smitten dead the meddling priest. 
But smooth your own dispute, O Syracusans. 
Demosthenes is at the gates. One breach 
Of discord in your armor, and he enters. 
I am a Spartan soldier, and can league 
The strength of Sparta with no falling city. 

Antenor. Heed not the foreigner ! The word of God 






THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 75 

Is stronger on our side than Sparta's spears. 
As ye have stood with me against the many 
Before, stand with me now. They must be ruled 
Like children. 

Chief Senator. Is there now no more to say? 
Judges, ye hear accuser and accused, 
And ye have heard Gylippus. Rise in turn 
And vote into the urns. First, aged Nestor. 

Nestor. None grieveth more than I to lose the fane, 
For none but I remembers when 'twas built. 
None honors thee, Antenor, more than I, 
For zeal and holiness. And yet, methinks, 
Thou wast a hasty youth, and now, though white 
With eld, thou still art hasty in thy zeal. 
For, though thou lov'st thy temple, thou lov'st more 
All Syracuse, and would'st not see that burned. 
But if ye glare like enemies, and stand not 
Like brothers, in a phalanx, how, alas ! 
How shall ye drive this mighty fleet away 
That comes to seize our city ? So my vote 
Is for forgiveness. Else I know not how 
The people can be calmed, and Lord Gylippus 
Be won to lend us aid. 



?6 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

He votes. A storm of approval among the people. 
The rest follow Nestor, and vote, one by one, into 
the urn of Pardon. 

Chief Senator. All see the judgment. Let the 
accused go free ! 

Antenor. Hold ! 

Chief Senator. What wouldst thou, Antenor ? 

Antenor. What would I ? 

Shout ! Shout ! ye fools. I will not strive to out- 
roar ye. 
What would I ? Perjured judges ! Heaven, restrain 
Thy wrath, or visit it on wretched me ! 
For I am old, weak, useless to my people. 
O let me wrap the cloak of solitude 
About mine aged head, and dwell apart. 

The trial breaks up amid rejoicings of the people. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 77 

Scene III. 

At the gate of the Senate-House. The crowd has 
dispersed. Lucius and Gylippus, with guards, are 
leaving the theatre. Antcnor follows them alone. 

Enter, breathless, Adelia and Glauka. 

Adelia. Father ! 

Axtexor. Adelia ! My beloved child, 

What brings thee here ? 

Adelia. Barca — the drugs — last night, 

Last night, — O, my bewildered brain ! 

Glauka. Last night 

Our guest, Lord Barca, drugged her in the garden. 

Axtexor. Barca ! 

Gylippus. What does the Punic general 

In Syracuse ? 

Glauka. He left her on the beach, 

Startled, I think, by sentinels. This morn 
I found her there. 

Lucius. Treachery! To the walls ! 

Three sentinels reported they pursued 
Some foul deserter to the shore last night, 
But lost him in the darkness. 



7$ THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Lticius approaches Adelia. 

Antenor. Go, rash youth ! 

Offend my sight no more ; my daughter's sight 
No more. 

Lucius. O sire, hath ought escaped my lips, 

Irreverent to thee ? 

Antenor. Away ! 

Lucius. O sire ! 

Antenor. Away ! 

Adelia. What dost thou mean ? Thou canst not 
mean 
To sever me from Lucius ? 

Antenor. Stay the hand 

Of doom I see in yonder heavens, uplift 
O'er Syracuse. Then come and woo my daughter. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 79 

Scene IV. 

A month elapses. The Athenians are now in turn 
besieged in their camp at Plemmyrium by the Syra- 
en sans. The Athenian camp. A tent. Barca and 
Salander. 

Salander. Shake off this heavy spirit. 

Thou art as variable, hast as many moods 
As the chameleon colors. 

Barca. I remember 

Thou saidst I was inconstant. True ! True ! True ! 
My being had no centre till I knew 
Adelia. 

Salander. If thou couldst forget the girl ? 

Barca. Forget her ? Sooner shall Narcissus' flower 
Erase the brand upon its cup than I 
Her image on my heart. 

Salander. Thou art enchanted ; 

But it was so with Had ; 'twill be so 
With her that ousts Adelia. 

Barca. O Salander, 

When I reflect upon the things I loved, 
How like fair, brittle bubbles all appear, 



80 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Chased by a careless boy, caught, touched, and broken ! 

I loved our mighty city, when the throngs 

Came forth, — each face a story to keen eyes, — 

And darkened its white ways. For I would dream 

Some day they might be mine. 

Were there a limner 'mid the fabled Gods 

Not his aerial colors would suffice 

To paint my vision's splendors. But I wore 

My giant will to nothing in the task, 

And, baffled, fled to solitudes forlorn 

And mountain steeps, whence man seems but a mote, 

A speck upon the visible universe. 

And yet sometimes the universe seems less 

Than I, a speck, too, on the infinity 

That I could cover were my spirit unsheathed, 

And suffered to roam forth on wings of will. 

I loved to dream upon a rolling meadow ; 

I loved to wrap my spirit in the storm 

And plunge through perils of the wind-swept sea. 

Thus back and forth I went, as goes the bee, — 

For we must go, — from flower to flower, from clime 

To other clime. I had a tryst in the vale, 

A tryst in the highlands, and I kept them both 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 8 1 

And made two maidens glad. I lived the warm, 

Wild life ; yet oft I knelt before the shrines 

In mystic meditation. Pleasure, love, 

Song', war, ambition, Carthage, read the roll 

Of my tributary joys, once fair and fragrant, 

Now withered and flunq- off. 

For midway in my course I met Adelia. 

My being knew its centre ; as the leaves 

Incline unto the light, I turned to her, 

And now I see myself as to her eyes 

I am, — endued with powers above all men, 

Gigantic, yet unshapcn, towering here 

Above these Greeks, — a sculpture of the Nile 

Beside a Phidian marble. 

Salander. Rouse thee ! Yet 

We may escape. Who knows ? 

Barca. Thrice we have failed, 

Who never failed before. A strange despair 
Deals icy stabs into my heart. Dost think 
Men e'er have glimpses of their destiny ? 
We see the past, a memory-lighted wake, 
Behind us; are we then forever doomed 
To break the foggy future as we go ? 



82 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Salander. There was an ancient soothsayer proph- 
esied 
That I should die by steel. But zounds ! I think 
Death comes at random, and knows not himself 
Or when or where. 

Barca. Something here whispers to me 

That I shall die in Syracuse. Enough ! 
What tales are these dame Rumor sows in the air ? 
Couriers fly back and forth ; the horses stamp ; 
The soldiers whet their swords. 

Salander. Two captives, ta'en 

This morn, guerillas from the inland countries, 
Forewarn us of a general sea-assault 
To-morrow. O, for my old Numidian squadron ! 
These Greeks mistrust us, and I them. Besides, 
E'er since Gylippus came, the Syracusans 
Are turned to Spartans. They have trapped us here, 
And swear we'll not escape them. But what ho ! 
The bugle sounds a call ; from end to end 
Of the long camp the answering trumpets ring. 
Bugle-calls. 
Barca. To arms, Salander ! Hear the mighty 
music. 



THE SIEGE OF Si'RACUSE. 83 

This brooding is not life. I've seen a hound, 
Tusked by the boar and bleeding, at my call 
Leap back and charge one frantic onset more. 
So let us charge against the throat, of fate, 
And hew a lane to liberty. 

Salander. Woe to the foe 

That meets thee in this mood ! 



Scene V. 

The secluded garden. G lank a and Adelia. 

Enter the High-Priest. 

Antenor. Why, we neglect our garden. Weeds 
run wild 
Among the flowers, and many stems are withered. 
'Tis long since I have noticed them. Thou, Glauka, 
Art paler than a maid of thy young years 
Should ever be. 

Adelia. I fear thou art not well 

Thyself, dear father. 

Antenor. O, my sweet Adelia, 

To gaze on thee, to sink this withered hand 



84 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Wrist-deep among thy golden curls, is cure 
For my poor ailments. Kiss me. Thou art all 
They leave me now, all that my people leave me. 

Adelia. Nay, many messengers arrive each day 
To ask for thee, and bring thee love and greeting. 
One parted from us now, Lord Nestor's squire, 
Who, as he bade good-speed, said " Bid thy sire 
Rejoice ; the town is free." 

Antenor. The clouds of war 

Are breaking round us. Like two sister stars 
That through a rifted storm shine forth in heaven 
Shine ye serenely in your peaceful garden. 

Adelia. And thou ? 

Antenor. I watch the morning grow to noon. 

The noon to eve, and end my idle day 
With sleep, more idle. 

Adelia. Dost return so soon ? 

Antenor. Ay, to my chamber. Fare you well 
awhile. 

Adelia and Glauka. Farewell ! 

Adelia. My father's hair is snowier. 

Glauka. Yes, lady, and his upright shoulders bend. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 85 

Adelia. Why did he break with them ? The people 
love him. 
And he loves them, I know. 

Glauka. Two hearts may love 

Whose faces are but as the faces of strangers. 

Adelia. What makes thee sad ? I have not heard 
thee sing 
This many a week. 

Glauka. In truth I am not happy. 

Adelia. If thou'st a sorrow, Glauka, pour it forth, 
And we will cry together, solacing each 
The other. For I, too, am melancholy; 
But if I shut my grief within my heart, 
'Twould eat a chasm there. 

Glauka. If I should tell, 

Wouldst thou give promise never to reveal 
My secret ? 

Adelia. If thou askest it, I will. 

Now I remember Lucius often said, 
"What shade is that, dwelling on Glauka's brow?" 
And I could never tell. 

Glauka. Lucius ? 

Adelia. For when 



86 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Thou cam'st to me thou wast a stranger. Since 
Thou art become a friend. But for the years 
Before thou earnest we are strangers still. 
Sit by me on the bank, and let me be 
Thy confidant. 

Glauka. It is an olden grief, 

And the beginning of my tale is far, 
Far back. Then listen, lady. Thou hast heard 
Of Chios? 

Adelia. Where Alcaeus flourished, one 

Of those Ionian islands, that besprinkle, 
Even like yon clouds, the Aegean isles of Heaven, 
The ocean beyond Hellas toward the morn. 

Glauka. In Chios I was born. There is my home. 
Three sisters, fairer than myself, still watch 
Our fireside embers there. — Of all 
The Chian youths, the fairest was my cousin, 
Antinous, who dwelt beneath our roof. 
Lithe was his frame, and smooth, and when he slept 
His lips so rosy-ripe that mother Night 
Would take them for a flower, and hang a drop 
Of dew on them. From early infancy 
He played our island songs upon the lyre. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 87 

One clay a wandering minstrel, hearing him, 
Said to my sire, " Lord, thou art rich in lands, 
But richer in this youth. Apollo's soul 
Lives in him. At Olympia 'mid the best 
Of Grecian minstrels I have seen a worse 
Bear off the leafy prize." My sire resolved 
To journey to the festival ; and we, 
His daughters, went with fair Antinous, 
Who played with me, and loved me, as a youth 
Would love a maid ; and I loved him in turn, 
But only as my playmate. When all Greece 
Smiled on him from the tiers, he saw but me ; 
For me he shook, with pleasure-lighted eyes, 
The wreath he won. I looked beyond, and saw 
Anion, the victors one who bore the wreath 
For lyre and song, more noble than my cousin. 
A flower in my bosom burst to bloom. 
'Twas love. 

Soon, oh, too soon, the parting day 
Arrived. My father said, " Home now to Chios ! " 
I wept in secret, for I knew the youth 
Dwelt far, — in Syracuse. 

Adelia. In Syracuse? 



88 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Glauka. And when he turned his forehead to the 
west, 
How could I turn mine eastward, far from him 
Forevermore ? I followed him by sea 
To Syracuse. 

Adelia. Go on, my love, 

Glauka. Alas ! 

He loved a lady there, fairer than I. 
Whom when I saw, I marvelled not. No goddess 
Could rival her, not Aphrodite fair, 
Nor Juno tall, nor Hebe with the cup 
Of brimming youth, far sweeter than her wine. 
I loved her, and she drew me to her side. 
And round the pair, my lover and his love, 
I hover, hiding in my bosom's deeps 
My sorrow. For my mien is never sad, 
Though sometimes when I sing I give a voice 
To secret, sad repinings. 

Adelia. His name ? thy lover's name ? 

Glauka. Hast not divined it ? 

It is the name thy lip most loves to round. 

Enter Lucius from behind the shrubbery. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 89 

Lucius. Adelia ! 

Glauka. Oh! — 

Adelia. Who calls me ? Lucius ? Heaven ! 

Lucius. Methought your very souls were in your 
eyes, 
Fair Glauka' s raised to thine, thine drooping o'er them, 
Like to the pale, calm blue of heaven bent o'er 
The dark and troubled azure of the sea. 
Thou hold'st thy matted hair to hide thy tears. 
Glauka, what have I done ? 

Adelia. Thou wast too sudden. 

My sire forbade thee ever to see me more. 

Lucius. Cruel Antenor ! Plead with him, my love. 
To-morrow's combat in the harbor marks 
The doom of the Athenians. In their fleet 
The traitorous Carthaginian, thrice foiled 
Attempting to escape, fights like a God. 
But I have sworn to have his life to-morrow, 
And if the Gods are gracious, and we win, 
Amid the general joy, — for still I think 
No heart beats warmer for the city's weal 
Than his, though now estranged, — might he not 
then 



90 THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE. 

Relent, Adelia ? Speak ! I love thee more 
A thousandfold than ever. 

Adelia. Go, love, go. 

I pray my father may not find thee here. 

Lucius. Brief are the stolen moments. Speak one 
word 
Of hope before I leave thee. 

Adelia. Thou art rude. 

Glauka, my loved companion, is not well. 

Lucius. Forgive me, I had eyes for nought but 
thee. 

Adelia. Antenor must not see thee here. The 
shock 
Would shatter him. Go, now, ere he returns. 

Lucius. Not yet, I cannot go. 

Adelia. He comes, he comes. 

Lucius. To-morrow — 

Adelia. Nay, I may not hear. 

Lucius. To-morrow, — 

Tell him what I have told thee of to-morrow. 

Adelia. Go, love. 

Exit Lucius as Antenor re-enters. 



THE SIEGE OF STRACUSE 9 1 

Antenor. My servant says the enemy strike 

Their final blow for liberty to-morrow. 
Defeated, they are lost. Their hopes are dead, 
And Syracuse is free. 

Adelia. God vouchsafe strength 

To every soldier's arm ! 

Antenor. Amen ! Amen ! 

Be ready to go forth, and on the height 
Above the harbor cheer the soldiers on, 
And pray for Syracuse. 

Adelia. What! I and Glauka? 

Antenor. We three. Farewell. 

Exit Antenor. 

Adelia. Glauka, art thou recovered ? 

Glauka. Yes, lady, and I heard Antenor' s words. 
Sweet words ! But let me whisper something to thee. 
Bend closer. — Wilt thou keep my secret ? 

Adelia, Yes. 



92 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 



%tt f iftf). 

Scene I. 

Next morning. A height over the harbor. The fleet 
anchored on the shore below. Enter the High-Priest, 
with Glauka and Adelia. 

Antenor. Here let us stand, 

And overlook the harbor. 

Glauka. O how fair ! 

Antenor. It is a noble station whence to view 
The island and the bay. How smooth and calm 
The water, as the sunshine trembles o'er it, 
This lovely morn ; more like some valley lake 
That seems a patch of heaven's blue, fall'n on earth, 
Than the wind-beaten ocean, fed with foam 
Of submarine salt fountains. 

Adelia. Such a day 

Was never meant for war. The gulls that here 



THE SIEGE OE SYRACUSE. 93 

Sport up and down the wind take not a thought 
Of what is coming. On their breasts they wear 
No armor 'gainst their kind ; their talons clutch 
No spears. O God, to think that man to-day 
Will stain the sea-green wave with scarlet blood 
And heap it with corpses for the running tide 
To cast upon the shore ! 

Axtexor. They come ! They come ! 

The army marcJics to the shore, belozv. 

O hear the wild war-music. By each band 

The boyish minstrels march, and the feet of thousands 

Beat to their martial measures. 

Adelia. What a throng 

Attends them to the shore ! 

Axtexor. Their brows are stern. 

They all gaze out unto the foreign fleet 
Across the harbor. Many a soldier's eye 
Is filled with tears. 

Glauka. And so are mine. 

Axtexor. March on ! 

For he that overlives this victory 



94 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Shall wear a hero's crown, and he that falls 
Shall have a grave within the memory 
Of men, wet with the truest tears forever. 

Adelia. They grasp the ships and push them down 
the sands. 
Some to the oars ; some poise their spears in air 
Against an unseen foe. Others draw bows, 
Arrow! ess, but with sinewy, skilful arms. 

Glauka. O, it is terrible ! I cannot think, 
For all the tales of Asian amazons, 
That women e'er were soldiers. It accords 
With rough and cruel natures. 

Adelia. Nay, the sight 

Arouses in my heart the wish that I 
Could do a soldier's duty on the walls, 
If Syracuse should call me. 

Glauka. O, and sink 

Thy hard spear in some foeman's tender breast, 
And draw it out all red ? 

Antenor. They are embarked, 

And glide together from the crescent shore 
With majesty. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 95 

Adelia. It is not like a battle ; 

'Tis like a voyage of pleasure. 

Ax tenor. Look afar ! 

The hostile fleet hath left its moorings. See ! 
That long, dark line, midway across the harbor. 
The wind is set against them. 

Adelia. Heaven be thanked! 

Antenor. Now — now — they meet. Hark! Hark! 

Adelia. I hear a cheer 

Borne o'er the water. 

Antenor. 'Twas the maiden shock. 

Xow they recoil. 

Glatjka. Can I not blind my eyes ? 

My hands refuse to cover them. Some charm 
Rivets their gaze. 

Antenor. The fleets break into clusters, 

Some fly and some pursue. The champion barks 
Begin to single out each other. Fierce 
They battle round the centre of the fleet. 

Glauka. I cannot tell the forms so far away. 
Canst thou, Adelia ? 

Adelia. No, love. But my eyes 

Follow one ship. 



96 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Glauka. Which one ? Tell me a mark 

That I may know it, and chain my glances to it 
All through the clay. 

Adelia. 'Tis whiter than the rest, 

It sails upon the left, as if it meant 
To wheel around them. 

Glauka. He is in it ? 

Adelia. Yes. 

My heart ! That very trireme is attacked. 
I thought I saw 

A sailor aim a blow at one who stood 
Before the rest. He missed. His shining blade 
Is sheathed in the sea. 

Glauka. The other ships 

Are come between them. I can see no more. 

Adelia. Nor I. 

Antenor. O gracious God of war, 

Fight thou invisible with them, spread thy shield 
Before them, lend them strength and surer aim. 
Thou, God of Justice, bid the scales of Fate 
Weigh true, against the foreign, false marauder, 
Who crossed the sea, inveigled by sweet lure, 
To snatch our city's plenty. 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. gj 

Glauka. I must go. 

I cannot bear to see the mangled ships, 
And wrecks, and floating bodies. 

Antenor. Nay, the fight 

Is scarce begun as yet. Our friends of Sparta, 
Invincible on land, give way before 
The Athenian's mariners. Sit ye aside, 
Turning your faces inland toward the hills, 
And pray for Syracuse. Here we remain 
Until the day is over. 



Scene II. 

Later. Among the combatants. Lucius trireme. 

Lucius. O friendly mother night, make haste to fall 
On this embattled ocean, far and wide 
Bestrewn with desolation. Spread thy veil 
Of thickest gloom around us, that our fleet, 
Now by the Athenian's desperate valor driven 
So near the shore our dearest, watching there 
Can spy our faces, yet may hold the foe 
In strenuous combat till the early stars 



98 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Shall drive them, mangled, home, to rue the cost 
Of this poor, barren victory. 

Helmsman. Here comes 

Barbaric Barca ! Ha ! he swerves to strike 
A galley from his path. Look, how she sinks 
Amid a bloody whirlpool. Spears and shafts 
Fly round his head, but like a tower he stands, 
Unscathed, upon the prow. 

Barca comes in sight. He is wounded in the breast. 
Salander dead at his feet. 

Lucius. At last ! Die ! Die ! 

Infamous traitor ! 

Barca. Whose bold challenge rings 

Upon my shield ? 

Lucius. O the tumultuous joy 

To kill the evil snake that coiled his folds 
About my sleeping darling ! 

Sword-play. Barca falls. 

Lucius. So perish traitors ! 
Barca. Was it thou, Adelia ? 

I saw three forms erect upon yon heights, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 99 

With hands uplift in prayer, full darkly carved 
Against the lighted sky. Methought that thou 
Wast one. Thou first, Salander — Salander — 
Adelia — 

Dies. 

Helmsman. The African is dead. 

Lucius. And with her name on his unholy lips. 

Helmsman. Id like to measure him from tip to tip, 
As huntsmen measure some superb, large lion 
After the chase is over. 

Lucius. Hark ! the tide 

Is changing while we linger. Look ! they fly ! 
They fly ! To oars ! 

A cheer from the Syracusan shore, answered by a dis- 
tant wail from the Athenian onlookers across the 
harbor. The Athenians turn and fly, 

Lucius. First board the Carthaginian, 

Take off the crew and bind them ! Then row back 
And charge full speed, and sink her in the sea. 
Then — 

Helmsman. Master, art thou injured of a sudden? 



100 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Lucius. Some random arrow. Chance is the best 
bowman. 
The others could not hit me. 

Helmsman. Pull it out. 

Quick, men, and save Lord Lucius. 

Lucius. Follow ! Follow ! 

See the destroyers fleeing. Follow ! Follow ! 
Like hounds behind the bounding stag, like Gods 
Upon the heels of Titans. Follow ! Follow ! 

Helmsman. Hush, master ! for the wound is like a 
fountain. 
My tunic for a bandage. 

Lucius. Do they fly ? 

The cheers are far ahead. 

Helmsman. Yes, we are fallen 

Behind the others. 

Lucius. Cheer! my comrades, cheer! 

This is the last of the Athenians, 
And Syracuse is free. 

Helmsman. Row for your lives. 

A surgeon ! O, a surgeon ! 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 10 1 

Scene III. 

Evening. Lucius dying on the shore. The High- 
Priest, G I auk a, Adelia ; Soldiers and Sailors. 

Adelia. Hush ! he is speaking. 

Lucius. Now the gorgeous light 

Is sinking in the west. For me not day, 
But time, is setting, and eternity, 
The starless night, ariseth. 

Adelia. Lucius, say 

Thou knowest me. 

Lucius. The twilight of a forest, 

How vast and calm ! Men pass. Their forms grow 

vague, 
Dissolve, and leave no outline to the eye. 
Is this a land 'twixt life and death, through which 
I journey to my goal ? But lo ! a shape 
Of glory waits me, radiant as the sun, 
When Vesper at Heaven's gate points east and west 
Her clarion, and convenes the roaming Gods 
To hoar Olympus to the mighty feast, 
And Phoebus sinks in splendor. It draws near. 



102 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

Come, let me grasp thee, bathe my soul in thee. 
Ha, was it thou, Adelia ? 

O my love, 
How rich with life, like a full fruit, art thou ! 
Thy dewy eyes, thy sweetly grieving lips, 
Thy poise erect and womanly, thy frame 
Made for caresses. Darling, wilt thou do 
My dying wish ? 

Adelia. Were it to do the deeds 

Of Hercules, or shake the world. 

Lucius. Be happy ! 

Adelia. O love, thou askest what I cannot do. 
My heart, the fountain-spring from which joy bubbles, 
Is frozen to a stone. My lips are marble. 
How shall I ever smile again ? 

Lucius. Be happy. 

And in the years to come, when soothing Time 
Hath healed thy heart, when, standing in the stream 
Of joy, up to thy lips, — the golden stream 
That flows through mortal life eternally, — 
Thou canst but drink again and smile, — 'twill be 
A happy sorrow to remember me. 
Remember me when autumn seres the fields, 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 103 

And pity for the yellowing leaves of summer 
Comes o'er thee with the season : when the dusk 
Drives daylight from the garden, and night winds 
'Gin mourn, remember me ! remember me 
When far-away, soft music fills the air 
And floods thy spirit with a mingled draught 
Of rapturous aches and pleasures. Then, Adelia, 
Remember Lucius. 

Adelia. O, my heart is breaking. 

The happy by-gones — are they dead forever ? 

An ten or. I was too stern ; forgive me. 

Lucius. Is it thou, 

Antenor ? Come more near, and take my hand. 
Do not accuse thyself. 

Antenor. Thou goest to meet 

The bridegroom, Death, to whom thou wast betrothed 
The day that thou wast born. Dark powers place 
Our infant hands in his, and while men say 
" Another life " they say " Another death." 
But blest are they, the fearless and the good, 
To whom Death comes in raiment of the dawn, 
With gentle visage, Love upon his right, 
And glory on his left. Whose last looks see 



104 THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 

The loving faces round them ; whose last sounds 
Are words of whispered comfort. In thine ears 
A paean is resounding, sung afar 
By thy victorious comrades, disembarking. 
Hark to the shouts, the clash of arms, the cries 
Of welcome, and the laughter, and the songs, 
And shriller accents when sweet children blend 
Their joyous jargon. 'Tis the mingled hymn 
Of our thanksgiving. Let these things assuage 
Thy pain. Thy rescued country honors thee. 

Triumphal music. 

Lucius {rousing). Rejoice, O Syracuse, at this 
grand hour 
Triumphal, in thy valor and thy strength ! 
In thy war-weary legions that return 
Within thy peaceful bosom ! O rejoice 
In thy sea-girdled beauty, now set free 
From marring foes ! Rejoice in thy blue sky ! 
Thy forts and armories, thy marts and shrines, 
Thy cots and bowers and citadels ! Rejoice 
In thy fair history, writ not on rolls 



THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 105 

Of parchment, but on more unfading leaves, 

Thy sons' brave eyes, the pure cheeks of thy daughters. 

Thine elders' reverend miens ! 

My Syracuse ! 
Dies. 



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